Detroit Lions now sitting on a top-five draft pick

DETROIT -- As the season turns toward the final quarter, the Lions are facing a dilemma.

They've lost five of their last six games. At 4-8, they are tied with the Falcons, Giants, Bills and Jaguars for the fifth-worst record in the NFL. And they also happen to have the easiest strength of schedule of those teams, based on their respective 16-game slates.

That means Detroit is currently sitting on the fifth overall pick in next year's NFL draft, trailing only San Francisco (2-10), Oakland (2-10), NY Jets (3-9) and Arizona (3-9).

But that's where the dilemma comes in.

The Lions face the Cardinals next week, and then the Bills the week after that. Those are very winnable games against teams also battling for top-five picks. But Detroit's also been out of the playoff chase for weeks now, and was officially eliminated from the NFC North chase with its loss Sunday against the Rams.

So beating Arizona or Buffalo, or Minnesota or Green Bay after that, will do little other than to hurt their draft spot.

Then again, more losses -- especially against teams like Arizona and Buffalo -- will sow further doubt about where this franchise is headed, and increase the pressure on Matt Patricia, Bob Quinn, Matthew Stafford and whoever the coordinators are next season.

Either way, it'll be interesting to see what happens here in the final month, as the Lions face their first losing opponents in nearly two months. As it currently stands, FootballOutsiders gives them a 23.4 percent chance of securing a top-five pick. That's seventh best, behind fellow 4-8 teams like the Giants and Jaguars because they finish with more difficult schedules.